Irish Out To Snap 0-for-orange Bowl Hex

MIAMI — Notre Dame concludes its season Monday night the way it started it-amid adversity and question marks-but with a shot at its second consecutive national championship.

Two season-long defensive starters, Bob Dahl and Andre Jones, won`t play at all when the Irish confront top-ranked Colorado in the Orange Bowl.

They couldn`t practice with the team because they needed time to prepare for final exams and Holtz has a strict no-practice, no-play rule.

Inside linebacker Donn Grimm won`t start because of a gimpy ankle, and neither will big-play man Raghib ``Rocket`` Ismail because of a tender shoulder. However, both are likely to see as much playing time as their physical conditions allow.

Coach Lou Holtz, who has had a difficult time with the media all season long, has again been pilloried in the press-though it`s difficult to understand why-for a pep talk he didn`t know was being taped by a Colorado TV station.

Some reporters thought it was in bad taste for Holtz to talk confidently to his team about beating Colorado while publicly extolling the Buffaloes`

abilities.

All this presumably distracted Holtz and his team in their final days of preparation, but one gets the distinct feeling Holtz the motivator will turn it to his team`s advantage.

The biggest question for the Irish is not whether Troy Ridgley, Devon McDonald and freshman Erik Simien can take up the slack in the defensive front five, but whether they shake off their loss to Miami and their history of misfortunes in the Orange Bowl.

Notre Dame hasn`t won here since 1977, having lost five straight games to Miami.

After the 27-10 loss to the Hurricanes Nov. 25, middle linebacker Ned Bolcar said he never wanted to see the Orange Bowl again.

When Tony Rice strolled across its sun-kissed turf to meet reporters last week, he said he had visions of that disastrous night against Miami when the Irish lost the No. 1 ranking they had held for 12 weeks.

``No one on this team has ever won in this stadium, so that`s what we`re going to go out and do-put the jinx behind us,`` said All-America cornerback Todd Lyght.

Holtz said his team has prepared well, working four days in pads in the Flordia sunshine. He promises the Irish will play ``awfully, awfully hard.``

``There`s no doubt about it that the players` confidence is shaky,`` he said, ``and the No. 1 reason is because we didn`t play well in our last football game, and we can`t put it behind us because we`re in the city where that transpired.``

Both teams operate remarkably similar offenses, keyed by quarterbacks who are the best in the nation at running the option attack.

Rice, who will play his last game for the Irish, is confident of a victory and hopes for a Miami loss in the Sugar Bowl; that combination is the Irish formula for a second straight national championship.

Colorado is led by sophomore Darian Hagan, their big-play man, a threat to improvise on a pitchout or connect on a bomb to one of his three favorite receivers, Jeff Campbell, Mike Pritchard and M.J. Nelson, each averaging 24 yards or more per catch.